GQ&A: Foals' Yannis Philippakis

[some kind of embed!] "It's all or nothing," says Yannis Philippakis of his recent return to smoking, as he lights up another Camel. "By the time the tour's finished, I'll probably be on some truly Greek number of cigarettes." Dressed in slim black jeans and a threadbare knitted jumper, the lead singer of Foals is surrounded by a sea of half-empty cups of Starbucks coffee and is slumped against a graffiti covered backdrop in the offices of the band's record label in Kensington. With a string of indie anthems behind them (including "Cassius", "Miami" and "Spanish Sahara") Foals are on the brink of releasing their third album, Holy Fire and embarking on their most extensive tour to date.

Here, Philippakis shares his thoughts on cocktail making, being star struck and why you should never put a cow in a bagel toaster...

GQ: You are about to go on tour for 116 days straight.What are your tips for surviving?

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You need to have a really highly strung mother who will give it to you. My mum hooks me up - she's my dealer.

Have you ever stolen anything?

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When I was younger I used to steal a lot. Some of my earliest memories are of walking back to preschool to hand back all this Duplo I'd stolen. I think a little bit of shoplifting now and again is not a bad thing - like stealing the occasional Twizzler from WH Smith. I can't remember any big things I've stolen. I used to get into trouble. But I'm a reformed character now.

What was the first thing you bought when you got signed?

Shoes - I was into Nike high tops at the time and bought two signature editions of Air Jordans. I bought quite a few Travis Bean guitars that were made in the Seventies. I didn't go out and buy a leather bedspread or anything - I know there are some bands who have done that. I put most of my money back into musical equipment and eating out.

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Where do you buy clothes?

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Liberty is my favourite. I like APC and there's a shop on Kingsland Road called Huh that's pretty good. There are some nice little boutiques around Stoke Newington as well. For men, there's a refreshingly good selection of clothes shops around there.

Are there any men you consider particularly stylish?

Frank Ocean looks cool; A$AP Rocky looks cool. He's got a refreshing attitude as well. I like the fact he speaks out against some of the small-minded nature of hip-hop culture, some of the more pernicious attitudes of it.

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Have you ever been fired from a job?

Yes, I was fired from every job I ever had before this. Once, I was working at a café in Oxford and I put this toy cow in the bagel toaster because these girls told me to. I was trying to impress them so I did it and then they grassed me up to the manager. Then I got fired. And the manager deducted the price of the cow from my last pay cheque. I was also a barman, with Edwin who plays keyboards, that's how I met him. I'm quite particular about how cocktails are made now.

What are the cardinal sins of cocktail making?

I find barmen who flare really unnecessary and aggravating. Just make the drink quickly and professionally. I find whisky sours without angostura bitters in them bothersome and also when there aren't enough maraschino cherries with whatever you've ordered with a maraschino cherry. I like cocktails to be made right. My go-to cocktail is a whisky sour, with a nice bourbon like Bulloch Lade or Woodford Reserve, something like that.

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What question are you tired of?

We used to get asked all the time why we were called Foals and I thought that was a boring question because the answer's boring. We still sometimes get that one, but not so much in England. Any question that you've been asked over 100 times gets annoying.

When were you last star struck?

I was pretty star struck meeting Jimmy Page but maybe not as much as the other boys were. I freaked out a bit meeting Michael Stipe.

I found myself to be exquisitely boring around Mike Stipe. He was quite intimidating as well; he wasn't forgiving of nerves. I felt like I had to impress him so that put me on edge.

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What was your most embarrassing experience?

I used to have dizzy spells that were quite embarrassing. I had something called benign infantile paroxysmal vertigo; I grew out of it but it came back in a slightly different format - it would mean that I'd need to vomit and it would hit me at any time. Once, I was on a date with a girl that I liked, but we didn't know each other that well. I started getting dizzy and then I knew that I needed to vomit. I had to essentially vomit in front of this girl without any warning or explanation and then I had to say "It's alright, this happens all the time."

Can you recommend a good book?

At the moment I'm really into Jonathan Franzen and David Foster Wallace. I like Raymond Carver's short stories, and I really enjoyed Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers. I really like Jonathan Franzen's essays, especially "Farther Away" and a collection called The Discomfort Zone. "This Is Water" by David Foster Wallace I really enjoyed, which is a memorial address he gave to some graduate students on the day that they were about to embark into the real world. It's advice for living; it's short, beautifully put together and it's almost like an aphorism per page. And it's got a poignancy because David Foster Wallace wasn't able to be saved by his own advice.

Have you ever had a recurring dream?

I had one recurring dream where I was on a beach with a horizon that curved out forever; it was like an arc that went out endlessly. There was nothing else around but an infinite amount of little neon-painted boxes of various shapes. They all had different things in them and my task in the dream was to go out and lift the boxes to safety on the beach but it was a Sisyphean task. I'd drag them up and the waves would take them back; it went on and on and on. I had the dream quite a lot; it was kind of beautiful; but at there same time there was the dread of this immense task that needed to be done.

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Who do you follow on Twitter?

I really like this musician called Zomby; he's got one of the most entertaining Twitters. Steve Martin - even though I'm not really a fan of his movies he's great on Twitter. I also liked [whoever was tweeting as] "Vincent Gallo" on Twitter before he quit it - he came across as a major-league arsehole, which I enjoyed.